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Research Experience For Teachers Dr. Jed S. Lyons, Director

The Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program supports middle and high school teachers to conduct engineering research on the USC campus during the summer.  Funded by the National Science Foundation, the goal of RET is to bring more knowledge of engineering and technological innovation to the pre-college classroom. This is achieved by building partnerships between teachers and engineering researchers in their laboratories.

The 2003 Project:  Composites In Construction
2003 Pictures and Lesson Plans For the past two decades, fiber reinforced polymeric composites (FRPs) have been introduced to the construction industry as a practical way to improve the load carrying capacity of our civil infrastructure. For example, fiber reinforced composite materials can strengthen and stiffen concrete bridge decks, in service.  However, research is need to improve the durability of the bond between the FRP and the concrete substrate. For example, if the FRP is impacted, then the bond to the concrete can be damaged and the reinforcement will become ineffective.  One potential method to make the composite and bond-layer more impact resistant is to incorporate rubber particles into the polymer matrix of the composite. The research objective of the 2003 RET project is to investigate the use of recycled rubber from car and truck tires as an impact modifier for composite overlays on concrete.  Teachers are guided by USC faculty as they design their own experiments, fabricate their own materials, test their samples and analyze the results.  The 6-week program includes composites in construction research on the USC-Columbia campus, field trips to Michelin R&D centers to learn more about tire recycling processes and recycled rubber applications, and scaffolding to help teachers develop K-12 educational materials derived from the research project.e	The 2002 Project Five high school science teachers conducted research at USC during the summer of 2002. Their objective was to determine the factors that affect the strength of the bond between fiber reinforced epoxy composites and wood. 2002 Pictures  2002 Newspaper Article The participating teachers also developed a number of laboratory modules that were derived from their research and taken back and used in their classroom.
	Other Opportunities for K-12 Teachers GK-12 Teacher Partnerships GK-12 Institute for Teachers
	Contact...   Jed S. Lyons, PhD PE    Mechanical Engineering    Univ. of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208    Phone:  803-777-9552    Fax:  803-777-0106 lyons@sc.edu
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Copyright 2002 by the University of South Carolina.